Look Who's Coming to Dinner
by huparcho
Summary: Shortly after the tamers get their digimon Takato finds out that he needs to visit his cousins in Odaiba. Who would have guessed that digimon ran in the family.
1. Heis

Disclaimer: No characters from digimon belong to me.  
  
With a put upon sigh Takato dragged his suitcase out of the closet and began rummaging through the closet. He had a week free from school, so his mother had arranged a visit with her sister in Odaiba. He was mildly upset about this, since it meant that he would miss the party Jeri was arranging for Rika's birthday. Takato briefly wondered who Jeri would get to take his place as a distraction. It would probably be Henry, since Kazu or Kenta would probably not survive and Ryo had disappeared again shortly after they had gotten the digimon back. The goggled tamer spared a brief moment of sympathy for Henry.  
  
Takato halted in his packing once again as his thoughts turned to Guilmon. The month Guilmon had been stuck in the digital world had been the worst time in Takato's life. His parents and friends had tried to distract him, but that didn't stop him from feeling as if a piece of himself had disappeared. That aching void and his worry over Guilmon's abiliy to survive on his own had almost been a physical force during that long month. And then when Guilmon came back to Shinjuku Takato felt complete again. There was no way he could possibly leave Guilmon behind as he visited his cousins.  
  
Still, it would be nearly impossible to hide Guilmon in Odaiba. It wouldn't be isolated like Kai's house had been and there wouldn't be a park to hide in. No matter how much more mature Guilmon had grown there was no denying that his partner was an oversized fire engine red dinosaur. It looked like he would have to use the old costume party excuse on the train. As for his cousins, he could only hope that Tai and Kari wouldn't freak out too badly over meeting a real digimon.  
  
-------  
  
"So, have you ever met Takato before?" Kari asked Tai as they walked over to the station to pick up their visitor. Tai ducked through a gap in the thick crowd and waited for Kari to catch up.  
  
"We've actually both met him before, but I'm not surprised that you don't remember him. Uncle Takehiro used to work for a company here in Odaiba, but he quit his job to start a bakery in Shinjuku years ago. It was the year before we went to the digital world for the first time." Tai paused as a thought struck him. " You did remember to warn Gatomon, right."  
  
Kari frowned at her big brother. "Of course I remembered to warn her. She knows to do the stuffed animal act when Takato is in the room." Kari returned her attention to the main subject. "Do you remember what Takato was like?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean what kind of person was he?"  
  
Tai grinned at his sister. "Why the sudden interest in cousin Takato?"  
  
Kari playfully punched Tai. "I just want to know more about him before he gets here. He is going to be here for a month, you know." The two of them reached their destination in the station and Kari pulled out the sign with their cousin's name on it and held it up.  
  
" Okay, okay, lets see." Tai stared at the ceiling of the station as he tried to remember. "I'm pretty sure that he was about your age. He was pretty quiet and timid, but he was also clumsy at times." Tai was going to continue, but he was distracted by the sight of someone in what looked like a larger version of agumon's favorite disguise heading rapidly in their direction.  
  
-------  
  
Takato grinned as the train pulled into the station. Despite the unexpected addition of Calumon to the group they had pulled off the trip without a hitch. Both digimon had enjoyed themselves thoroughly the last time they had gone to visit a relative and were looking forward to having more fun. He had originally tried to talk Calumon out of tagging along, but in the end he just couldn't say no to the tiny digimon. Takato was just happy that he'd had enough Guilmon Bread and creampuffs to keep both digimon occupied during the trip. Now all he had to do was find his cousins and explain the digimon to them. Hopefully they would take the news as well as Kai had.  
  
At least that was the plan. It only lasted until they disembarked from the train onto the platform. It was then that Guilmon crouched down and started to growl. Takato bent down and rested one hand on his partner's neck, holding onto his suitcase with his other hand. Calumon floated down and settled on Guilmon's head. "Whats wrong?" Takato inquired.   
  
For a moment Guilmon didn't answer, sunk in his viral instincts. Then he growled out a single phrase the made Takato unconsciously tighten his grip on the cloak hiding Guilmon. "I smell digimon." With that said the dinosaur dashed off into the crowd. Takato barely managed to get an arm around his partners neck. He felt Calumon grab onto the hood of his sweatshirt as the trio barreled through the crowd.   
  
Just as Takato's hand began to slip Guilmon came to an abrupt stop, sending his passengers tumbling over his head. The dinosaur slid forward a few feet, before sniffing around for the origin of the faint scent he had detected.  
  
Takato dizzily regained his feet. He was first met with the sight of Calumon busily stumbling around in an unsteady circle. With a sudden feeling of panic he glanced around to find Guilmon, only to see him sniffing a pair of bystanders with rather poleaxed expressions on their faces. A feeling of impending doom descended on him as he noticed that the girl of the pair was holding up a sign with his name written on it. So much for gently introducing his relatives to Guilmon and Calumon. At this point the only positive side to the situation was the lack of screaming, but that would probably start as soon as the shock wore off. With a small amount of trepidation Takato stepped forward to introduce himself and begin the explanation. 


	2. Duo

Disclaimer: Digimon does not belong to me  
  
Welcome to the second chapter of Look Whos Coming to Dinner. I had planned on taking longer for this, but I suddenly had some inspiration and wanted to get it out. If you have some time, please reviewand tell me what you think of this writing style.  
  
Takato nervously approached the pair that he almost sure were his cousins. "Um, hello. I'm Takato Matsuda. Are you Tai Kamiya?"  
  
Tai tore his eyes away from the spectacle of the red digimon. " Yeah, I'm Tai. Thats my sister Kari over there It's nice to meet you, but I have to ask this. Are those your digimon?" Tai motioned towards the red dino, who had given up on finding the scent he had detected and was playing some game with Calumon. It seemed to involve a great deal of giggling.   
  
Takato nodded. "Yeah, well Guilmon is anyway. Calumon is a friend. Hold on. You know about digimon already? I didn't think that they were well known outside of Shinjuku."  
  
The older boy snickered. " I suppose you could say that I know a bit about digimon. Theres two of them at my house right now."  
  
"I guess that explains why Guilmon thought he smelled some digimon here.' The two of them were about to continue when Kari came over and interrupted.  
  
"Tai, we should really continue this conversation at home."  
  
Tai blinked once, then noticed the game of tag was beginning to draw attention. "Shes right. We'd better get out of here." He turned to Takato. " Do you already have your luggage?"  
  
"Yeah, I've got it."  
  
"Then lets get those digimon out of sight. Come on, our apartment is this way." The five of them hurried out of the station and headed for the Kamiya apartment.   
  
Tai strode along behind the digimon and his cousin and sisiter as Kari lead the way to the apartment. He had never expected his cousin to be a digidestined. It made no sense, unless being chosen ran in families. If that was the answer then it meant that June might become a digidestined. He firmly turned his mind away from that rather scary line of thought. Still, everytime a new digidestined had turned up before it had been because they were needed to fight a new menace to the digital world. However, when that had happened before brand new digidestined had been called. That didn't quite make sense with how Takato and the two digimon were behaving. They didn't act like recent acquaintances. Calumon and Guilmon had obviously been in the real world for ling enough to be accustomed to the way things worked. They didn't show any surprise at anything they passed, unlike the way Agumon had acted the first time he entered the real world. Tai grimaced inwardly at the memory of the time Agumon and Gabumon attacked a train. The more he thought about it the more anxious Tai became to hear Takato's story.   
  
The tired group finally reached the apartment. It took a lot of sneaking, but they managed to get an empty elevator and get the two digimon up to the door of the apartment. Tai opened the door and ushered the group inside. They quickly slipped through the living room and went into Tai's room.   
  
As they entered the room Takato saw a large orange stuffed animal sitting on the bed twitch slightly. He was fairly certain that he heard some light snoring coming from it too. When Guilmon entered the room he started sniffing the room and headed straight for the bed and started staring at the stuffed animal. It opened his eyes and caught sight of the red snout a few inches away. The orange thing immediately fell off the bed. He quickly jumped to his feet. "Run Tai. I'll hold it off!" it shouted.  
  
The orange digimon abruptly stopped his battle preparations when Kari and Tai started laughing. "Theres no need to fight, Agumon," Tai gasped, "This is my cousin's digimon partner."  
  
"Is this the same cousin that we were going to hide from for a month?"  
  
"Yep. This is Takato and his partner Guilmon. It turns out that he already knows about digimon."  
  
"Wow, thats a relief. I was worried that I would be bored stiff if I had to be a stuffed animal for a month." Agumon walked over to Guilmon and held out his hand. "Hiya. My name's Agumon. Sorry 'bout almost attacking you."   
  
Guilmon slowly blinked his golden eyes at the other dinosaur before shaking his hand. "Hello. I'm Guilmon"  
  
As the two dinosaurs got to know each other none of the three humans inm the room noticed Calumon slipping out the door.   
  
Calumon giggled as he floated down the hallway on his extended ears. Normally he would be playing with Guilmon, but the dinosaur was busy talking to that other digimon. Maybe the orange digimon would be willing to play some tag later. For now Calumon wanted to explore this new place. The tiny digimon suddenly had a great idea for a game to play while exploring.  
  
Calumon lowered himself to the floor. Then he started to stealthily sneak along the wall while narrating his actions to an imaginary audience. "Super Explorer Calumon sneaks through the jungle. He is looking for really really scary lions and tigers." Calumon rounded the corner of the hallway and entered the living room. As he walked he ducked around invisible trees. Suddenly he spied something sitting on the couch. " What's that? Super Explorer Calumon sees a strange creature on a rock. Super Explorer Calumon sneaks forward to get a better view of the scary thing."   
  
As he spoke Calumon climbed up on the couch and got closer to what he thought wsa a stuffed animal. Suddenly it lashed out and grabbed him by then neck. Holding him up it hissed. "Who are you? Why are you interrupting my catnap?"  
  
Calumon let out a shriek of fear.   
  
Back in Tai's bedroom Kari jumped to her feet as she heard a shriek coming from the living room. "What was that?" Tai was already out the door, with Takato and the two digimon close behind.   
  
"That was Calumon" Takato hurriedly explained as he left the room. Kari swiftly got up and followed them.  
  
When they found Calumpon the entire group halted when they saw the scene. Gatomon was holding Calumon in the air and demanding to know his purpose for being in the house. At the same time Calumon was squirming frantically and begging the big meanie to let him go.   
  
Kari caught sight of the scene from behind her brother and stepped around him. "Gatomon," she said, "Let Calumon go. He's a friend of our cousin." Gatomon twisted around and saw the strange goggled boy standing next to a softly gowling digimon that she was unfamiliar with.   
  
Gatomon strolled over and deposited her squirming prisoner in front of the boy and turned to address the partner, ignoring the white digimon as he flew into the boy's arms and started complainimng about the unfun meanie weanie. " I thought your cousin didn't know about digimon. That was the whole point of us pretending to be stuffed animals," she complained.  
  
Kari giggled nervously. "It turns out that Takato already knew about digimon. The red digimon is his partner, Guilmon."  
  
Gatomon sighed. "I suppose I owe that white one an apology." She walked back over to the strange boy.  
  
Calumon peered suspiciously down at the cat-like digimon from his secure perch in Takato's arms. He didn't want to get any closer to the digimon that attacked him. He snuggled deeper into Takato's arms.   
  
Hours later Takato sighed as he relaxed after dinner. All of the digimon had eventually come to a truce. He had never been more thankful for both Calumon and Guilmon's willingness to forgive attackers. The two of them had made a truce with Gatomon almost immediately after her apology.   
  
Introducing his two digimon friends to Aunt Yuuko hadn't been as big an ordeal as he had feared. She was already used to having digimon of various types around, so the only obstacle was Guilmon's size. As long as he was careful he was allowed to stay in the apartment. Calumon, of course, won her over immediately. He had had great fun helping Aunt Yuuko cook dinner. Guilmon had already started to make close friends with Agumon.  
  
It all seemed so strange. Before he'd met Tai and Kari he had thought that the tamers were the only people with digimon partners. It had always been just the eight of them. As far as he had known, the digimon attacks had never spread further than Shinjuku. Now he was finding out that there were an unknown number of children with partners. It made him wonder. Why didn't they come help when the D-Reaper invaded?   
  
Takato's thoughts were interrupted when Tai and Kari entered the room with their digimon. Guilmon followed them and promptly laid himself down and went to sleep next to Takato.  
  
Tai and Kari sat down on the other chairs. Tai was the first to break the companionable silence. "Hey, Takato, we've all got some spare time right now. What do you yhink about exchanging some stories. I'm really curious about how you and Guilmon met each other."  
  
Takato blinked at his cousins. "I guess that would be a good idea. I'm kind of curious about your story too. You want me to go first?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Okay. Thats a pretty good place to begin." Takato paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. "I wasn't there at the very beginning when the digimon first started crossing over. For me, it all started when I found a blue card in my deck." He looked over at his attentive audience who had slightly perplexed expressions on their faces. "I don't know if its popular here, but in Shinjuku Digimon is a popular card game. Before I knew that digimon actually existed I used to play it all the time. I later found out that it was based off of the project that originally created digimon." Anyway, when I found this weird blue card the first thing I did was swipe it through the card reader, and that was where it all began."  
  
A/N  
  
In respose to the reviews I have a few answers. First, I do have plans for pairings. It won't be a major part of the story but I will probably put in some hints and background. So far I have palnned on Rukato, Taiora, and Kenlei. This is still just the set-up for the main part of the story, so I may put in more later on. The updates will be further apart from now on. I'm trying for longer chapters. I do have an idea for the connection between the two digital worlds, but it won't be important till later. Finally, this will eventually extend into the sixth movie. Look out for a very different series of events. 


	3. Treis

Aug 24, 2020  
  
Sometimes it seems as if it was only yesterday that I first met Takato and the tamers. At the time I had no idea that a whole new digital world existed. It seems impossible to me now that I could ever have believed that I was close to figuring out the digital world. I have now been studying it for twenty years and I still discover new aspects to the digital world every day.  
Shortly after I learned of the existence of a second digital world I became interested in how two such different worlds could exist at the same Time. I realized early on in my research that I would need to gather information from multiple sources. Gennai knew many things about the functioning of the digital world, but he had large gaps in his knowledge. I also spoke with Azulongmon. The sovereign was very helpful, but even after adding his knowledge there were far too many gaps in my research.  
For several months I was forced to put my research aside, as I had no idea where to look for further information. For a time I feared that I had reached a dead end in my research. It is likely that I would still be stalled in my research if not for a happy coincidence.   
Tai happened to mention to his cousin my problems. Takato immediately took interest in my project and came over to suggest that I speak with several acquaintances of his. He introduced me to the Monster Makers, Mitsuo Yamaki, and Shibumi. With their help I successfully finished the research and formulated a complete history of the digital world. I have high hopes that it shall soon be published, although it will be of interest to only a small fragment of the population. Regardless of whether it is published or not, I have already been offered a job by Mr. Yamaki.  
  
From the Journals of Koushiro Izumi  
  
Disclaimer: Nothing from Digimon belongs to me.  
  
Look Who's Coming to Dinner Chapter 3  
  
Not all lucid dreams are useful but they all have a sense of wonder about them. If you must sleep through a third of your life, why should you sleep through your dreams too?  
- Stephen LaBarge  
  
Takato lay in his bed, sleepless. He couldn't get what he had learned earlier from Tai out of his head. It just seemed impossible that he had never known anything about any of the events that Tai had told him about. He knew that Hypnos had been trying to cover up anything that had to do with digimon, but he had had no idea how much they had managed to hide.   
  
The one thing that his mind kept turning around was his cousin's narrative. In many ways it seemed as if Tai had been describing a completely different digital world. The few stories he had heard described a digital world that was a bizarre mix of familiar and strange things. It just didn't make any sense. How was it possible for the utopian world Tai described and the wasteland he was familiar with to exist at the same time?  
  
With a frustrated sigh Takato rolled over and punched his pillow. This wasn't solving anything. He had to get some sleep tonight. Tai and Kari had told him that they were going to call a meeting of the other members of their teams tomorrow. He needed get some sleep before he met them.  
  
Takato rolled over and curled up against Guilmon's back. He slowed his breathing and eventually drifted off to sleep lulled by his partner's snores. He didn't even notice his digivice as it lit up in the darkness.   
  
--------------------  
Dreams can be funny things. In the world inside a persons head memories and impressions blend and mix in unpredictable ways. Half forgotten concerns rise to the surface as more recent thoughts fade away. Dreams can bring visions of splendid things or they may revisit the darkest corners of the human heart. However, it must never be forgotten that some dreams carry a kernel of truth. And within every bright kernel of truth are the inner demons that must be faced in order for the brightness to spread. ---------------------  
As Takato slumbered, he found himself standing in a familiar place. He stood beside Guilmon's shed in the park. Looking around him' he saw all of his friends enjoying themselves in the park. The shadows that sometimes haunted their eyes were gone. Beside Jeri stood Leomon, looking as he had before he had been deleted. Looking up, he could see the buildings of downtown Shinjuku shining in the sunlight of the idyllic day. Gone were all the marks of the various attacks on the town.  
  
Takato had just turned to Rika to remark on this when he felt a sudden twist in his gut. Around him the world seemed to warp, like he was looking at a reflection in a funhouse mirror. The buildings he had just seen shining in perfection twisted into jagged distortions of themselves, etched like nightmarish sculptures against the suddenly blood red sky. One by one the features of each tamer and digimon began to blur, until they faded into a shapeless haze blown by the wind. Only Jeri remained behind.   
  
As she turned towards him a breeze blew past the two of them, bringing the faint sound of far-off insane giggling. An intense damp heat surrounded him. His eyes widened in horrified realization as Jeri continued her slow pacing towards him. He frantically stumbled backward as she shed her human disguise and spread her grotesque wings.  
  
The D-Reaper agent extended an arm and seized Takato's collar. She pulled him up from where he had fallen and lifted him up to her face. As his feet dangled several feet off the ground she opened her mouth and hissed at him. Her sharpened teeth glinted in the tainted light.  
  
"Hello, Takato." Her voice echoed disturbingly throughout the clearing.   
  
Takato desperately tried to free himself. " You can't exist. The D-Reaper was defeated.  
  
Jeri's clone tightened her grip on his collar. "Silly Takato," she mocked in his friend's voice, " The D-Reaper cannot be defeated. It is part of the digital world, like your little catalyst friend. Perhaps you think that the D-Reaper is evil? Everyone knows that the Knight always destroys the evil dragon. But how can the D-Reaper be evil. It was only carrying out it's purpose. No, little Takato, if anyone is evil it is you.  
  
Takato tried to cover his ears and keep from hearing the clones next words, but they inexorably bored into his mind.  
  
The clone brought him up closer to her face and whispered her next words. "After all, you didn't have a purpose to fulfill when you tried to destroy the digital world. You created a digimon with the ability to become Megidramon. You destroyed your best friends innocence and turned him into a vessel of vengeance. It was your rage that nearly destroyed the digital world. You nearly killed all of your friends. You convinced Jeri to be a tamer. It was your action that allowed the D-Reaper to enter the real world and reach it's fully evolved form.  
  
Takato desperately tried to block out the litany of crimes. He tried to protest his innocence, but he failed because deep in his heart he had always believed that many of the misfortunes that befell the tamers were his fault. As he slowly began to sink into guilt he saw a figure flying down from the red sky.   
  
With a feeling of inevitability he watched passively as Megidramon approached. The demon dragon glowed a sickening red color. What greenery was left wilted as it approached. It seemed only right that the embodiment of his rage and the greatest mistake he had ever made should bring about his end. He waited in a tranquil mood for his death.   
  
Just as Megidramon was opening his jaws Takato suddenly felt Guilmon calling him. Suddenly he snapped out of the morass of self blame he was trapped inside. It didn't matter what he thought of himself, Guilmon needed him. With the last bit of his self-will Takato reached along his connection with Guilmon and pulled. He found himself drifting lethargically in a familiar void decorated with red gears. It was the mental space he always spoke with Guilmon in. With that realization he snapped awake. ---------------  
  
Guilmon woke up as he felt strange emotions coming from his partner. The dinosaur had always been able to feel Takato's emotions, but this time he could tell that something was very wrong. He got even more worried as his partner began to toss himself around on his cot and mutter inaudibly. Guilmon carefully reached out with his claws and tried to shake Takato awake, but his partner wouldn't wake up. He quickly became even more worried when the unrest he was feeling from Takato turned to terror and then a darker emotion that scared him. Takato should never have to feel like that.  
  
Guilmon reached a decision. He started to call Takato's name while he reached deep inside himself for the wordless link the two of them had always shared. Through it he poured all of his worry and his love for the child who was both his creator and his best friend. Finally he felt a response from the other end of the link. -------------------  
Guilmon leaned over Takato as he opened his eyes . The tamer quickly sat up and wrapped his arms around his partner. Guilmon nuzzled his tamer. "Whats wrong Takato?" Guilmon asked. "Why wouldn't you wake up?  
  
Takato lifted his tear stained face and looked up at Guilmon. "I had a really bad dream. A nightmare."   
  
Guilmon didn't really understand what Takato meant by a bad dream, as he had never experienced one himself. All he knew was that something had scared his partner badly and he wanted to help fix it. He sat down and loosely wrapped his arms around his tamer, being careful not to touch him with his sharp claws. "What kind of dream is bad? All I ever dream about is bread."   
  
Takato started to laugh, but it turned into a choked sob. "Sometimes you have dreams that scare you. Thats what a nightmare is.  
  
Guilmon helplessly held his tamer close. He knew that he was hurting, but he didn't know what to do. "You don't need to be scared, Takato. We're together now. There isn't anything we can't do as long as we're together. Please tell me why you hurt.  
  
"Do you really want to know?  
  
"Of course i do. We're partners Takato. We've always been together and that will never change. I will never leave you, no matter what happens. We take care of each other, so I want you to stop feeling sad. I want to know why you hurt so I can help you feel better.  
  
Takato smiled tremulously at Guilmon. Somehow his childlike partner always knew the right thing to say. "You're right, Guilmon. I was wrong to try and keep this from you." Takato mentally prepared himself and began speaking. "Do you remember the D-Reaper clone of Jeri that attacked us when we got pulled in."   
  
"Yeah I remember. She was really scary and she tried to hurt your mind.  
  
Takato took a deep breath. "Thats who I dreamed about. She caught me and told me all sorts of horrible things.  
  
"What kind of things?  
  
Takato looked away from Guilmon, trying to hold back his tears. "That it was my fault that the D-Reaper bioemerged. That I nearly destroyed the digital world. That I created Megidramon. That I was the true evil.  
  
Guilmon gazed sadly at his tamer. "Takato, you can't blame yourself for everything that happened. It wasn't any one person's fault that all those things happened. All of us made mistakes. Zhuqiaomon, Mr. Yamaki,, Beelzebumon, Henry's dad and the monster makers. They all did things that brought the D-Reaper to the real world.  
  
"But what about Megidramon. I turned you into a monster and I didn't care about anything. I could have destroyed the digital world and killed all of our friends. I almost lost you, Guilmon.  
  
"I don't remember much of what happened when I was Megidramon, but I do know one thing. If that hadn't happened Beelzebumon would have killed all out friends. We might have never become Gallantmon and the D-Reaper would have won. But most importantly I know you Takato. I've felt your emotions and your heart. I know that you could never be evil, because if you were than I would be evil too.  
  
Takato raised his head and looked back up at his partner. "Thanks, Guilmon," he said quietly, "I don't know what I'd do without you. I'm really glad that you're here to listen to me. I feel much better now.  
  
"I'm happy that you're not hurting any more Takato. If you start hurting again will you please tell me. I don't like it when I feel you hurting and you won't tell me why it hurts.  
  
"I promise. I won't try to keep my worries to myself anymore.' The two of them remained curled up against each other in a companionable silence until they drifted off to a dreamless sleep. ---------------------  
  
The next morning Tai was up early. He waited impatiently for time to pass until his friends would be awake, and then grabbed the phone. He quickly dialed the number to Izzy's house.  
  
"Hello?" a groggy voice answered.  
  
"Izzy? This is Tai  
  
"Tai? Why are you calling? I thought we were going to meet later at the park.  
  
"There's been a change of plans. Do you remember when I told you that the digimon were going to lay low for a while because my cousin was coming to visit?  
  
"Yeah, I remember. What does that have to do with anything?  
  
"He brought a pair of digimon with him.  
  
On his side of the connection Izzy suddenly snapped awake. He moved over to his computer and booted it up. " Is he another digidestined? Does he have a digivice? What digimon are they?  
  
"Slow down, Izzy. I just met him yesterday, so I didn't have time to learn a lot. He has a digivice, but it doesn't look anything like our digivices or the D-3s. His partner is a big red dinosaur named Guilmon. He also brought a friend named Calumon.  
  
Izzy was busily typing in the names he got from Tai into the digimon analyzer. "No way. Those are unknown digimon. I've got to meet these digimon.  
  
Tai laughed slightly nervously at his friend. "Thats actually why I called. I want to change the plans for today so everyone can meet each other. What do you think of changing the location of our picnic to the digital world?  
  
"Thats a great idea Tai. I'll call everyone and tell them to meet us at the usual place in the digital world. we'll meet at noon.  
  
"Okay, I'll see you then." --------------------  
  
A few hours later Takato stumbled sleepily out of his room, Guilmon and Calumon behind him. Tai turned around and greeted the younger boy. "Good morning Takato. Did you sleep well?  
  
Takato yawned. "Yeah I slept pretty well.  
  
"Thats good to hear. You three better get some breakfast. I set up a trip to the digital world so you can meet everyone. Since you slept in so long we need to leave as soon as you're ready.  
  
Takato, Guilmon, and Calumon quickly became excited about the day's plan. They hurried through breakfast and were soon helping Tai pack picnic items. Kari had already left to wait at Izzy's. They finally left to meet up with the others at Izzy's house.  
  
A/N To all those who reviewed  
I received many comments about how I was connecting the two worlds, so I decided to include a prologue to each chapter. Since what I came up with was very complicated I will be revealing the details slowly.   
This is a slight alternate universe. For now, I will just say that the main difference lies in the tamer's universe. There is no digimon television show and the card game is based solely on the monster makers project. The D-Reaper attacked, but it never went outside of Shinjuku. For adventure, the difference lies in the origin of the digital world.  
This will eventually get to the battle against the Parasimon, but there are a few things that need to happen first. That probably won't happen for several chapters. 


	4. Tettares

As far as I have been able to piece together from different sources, the digital world began as a space where excess data collected. The more advanced computers became the more excess data spilled into the digital world. For a while the digital plain could probably be described as a junkyard for unneeded or unused data. it didn't really take a form that anyone would recognize as the digital world until a certain research project began. The sole expression to this are the creatures known as digignomes. I have not yet been able to discover where they came from. They seem to have always been a part of the digital world.  
The foundations of the digital world as we know it today were laid by a group of computer science students who called themselves the monster makers. As a part of a graduate program they reorganized some of that spare data floating around into primitive artificial intelligence programs, the very first digimon. They also created primitive forms of the two balancing forces in the digital world, the catalyst and the D-Reaper.  
Unfortunately, the digimon project ran out of funding and it was abandoned before completion. Only one of the monster makers continued to work on the project, Shibumi. With help from him the digimon and the digital world slowly began to evolve. The first four digimon to reach mega became the digimon sovereigns. During this time the power source of the digital world began to shift slightly, changing from being solely dependant on computers and the interest to blending dreams from the real world with the data. The dark ocean and the wish world came into existence reflecting the two sides of dreams.  
The progress of the digital world was abruptly halted when the D-Reaper attacked. It was responding to the upsurge in digivolution. Unfortunately, by this time the balance between the two forces was already precarious. The D-Reapers attempt to maintain the balance causes a fracture in the fabric of the digital world. The digital world split into several pieces.   
The most advanced section of the digital world became Azulongmon's domain. A few other sections became the respective domains of Ebonwumon and . Zhuqiaomon retained control over the most primitive of the four sections. His section was also the one that remained most closely connected with the real world and contained the D-Reaper. Fortunately, the trauma of the breaking fooled the D-Reaper into the false belief that it's job was completed and it retreated. In order to keep it in a quiscient state the four sovereigns collaborated with the digignomes to block all digivolution in that section of the digital world. In addition they turned the portion of the light that had been in that region into a digimon, now known as Calumon.  
  
- From The Origin of the Digital World  
  
Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.  
- Anais Nin  
  
Chapter 4  
  
"Izzy," Tai called as he knocked on the door, "Are you still here?  
  
Izzy swung the door open, almost knocking Tai over. "Of course I'm here." He shot an annoyed glance at tai. "Why are you so late? Everyone else is already here.  
  
Tai grinned sheepishly at his friend. "Well, you see-  
  
He was interrupted by Takato who stepped forward. "That would be my fault. Guilmon and Calumon got sidetracked.  
  
Izzy sighed. "You might as well come in. Everyone has been getting really anxious about going." He paused as he stepped in. "Where are your digimon anyway?  
  
Takato answered as he waited for the two teens to clear the doorway. " They're hiding around the corner . Guilmon's kind of big, so we try to keep out of sight as much as possible. He should be coming any moment.  
  
Even as this was said Izzy caught size of something large and red racing for the door. The same door, he realized, that the three of them were standing in. He quickly stepped back into the room, leaving room for the strange digimon to enter.   
  
After some brief confusion at the door everyone had finally managed to gather in the living room. Takato was sitting on the ground next to Guilmon, who was gazing in a fascinated way at all the other digimon. Calumon was happily perched on top of Takato's head. tai sat on the couch next to him, together with Agumon, Kari, Gatomon, and Sora. All of the other digidestined and digimon were scattered across the other couched and chairs along the walls or filing into the room. Most of them were casting unsure glances at the three strangers.  
  
Finally, everyone was seated, so tai got up and motioned to catch everyone's attention. "Hello everyone," he said. "You're probably wondering why I changed our plans for today and asked everyone to meet here.  
  
"No kidding." Matt muttered. He raised his voice slightly. "So, are you going to actually tell us who the kid is or are you just going to ramble.  
  
Tai shot a short glare at Matt. "Some people have no patience." he grumbled.  
  
Joe quickly stepped in before the meeting dissolved into another fight between Tai and Matt. "Why don't you just explain whats happening. Is he a new digidestined?" Joe waved an arm towards Takato who was staring wide-eyed at the almost fight between the two older boys. "Is there another new enemy coming? Come on tai, spill it.  
  
"Okay. Everyone, this my cousin Takato Matsuki. He's visiting from Shinjuku and, as you can see, he has a digimon partner. I thought it would be a good idea to have everyone here so we could all find out about him. So, why don't we get started." The room immediately erupted into a hubbub of commotion. All of the digidestined began shouting questions.  
  
Tai motioned for silence again. "Everyone, calm down. Why don't we just go around the room to start with. Takato," he addressed the boy," could you start by telling everyone a bit about yourself.  
  
Takato smiled at the group. "Of course." He stood up and paused a moment to gather his thoughts. "Like Tai said, my name is Takato. This is my partner Guilmon and my friend Calumon." The two digimon waved cheerfully at the digidestined. "I don't really know what exactly you want to know, so why don't you ask some questions and I'll answer them." And so the conversation began. By the time it was over Takato's head was spinning with his attempts to remember all the people he'd been introduced to.   
  
The digidestined were equally overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the number of surprises that they had learned of from Takato. Izzy was already mentally listing the number of new things he wanted to investigate. Most of the digidestined decided to embrace Takato and other tamers they might meet as members of the digidestined family. Only Matt, TK, Yolei, and Cody decided to reserve judgment on the new boy's trustworthiness until they got to know him better. To Matt, at least, it was obvious that Takato was holding back some important information.   
  
By the time that the conversation ended it was well past noon, so the group gathered together their picnic supplies and headed towards the computer room. Takato stood near the back of the room and looked about in confusion. He turned to look at Izzy and was about to ask if the older boy was somehow hiding a digital portal in his room when the girl with purple hair held up a strangely modeled digivice and ordered a digiport to open. In a flash of light she disappeared into the computer along with all of the digidestined except for Tai, Izzy and Cody. In his surprise Takato tripped and fell backwards, knocking Calumon off his head. "What happened to them?" Takato stuttered.  
  
The three remaining digidestined looked oddly at Takato. "They went to the digital world, remember," Izzy told him. "I thought you said that you'd been to the digital world before.  
  
Takato shot a skeptical glance at the innocuous piece of machinery sitting on the desk. "I did go to the digital world, but it was only once and I didn't go through a computer.  
  
"Really." Izzy looked entirely too excited for Takato's peace of mind. "I didn't think that there were any natural digital portals left. Where did you manage to find one? Is it still open?  
  
"Um, I only know of one open to this side and it comes and goes. Guilmon dug a tunnel down to it a couple of months ago.  
  
"Amazing. Do you think you could let me look at it sometime?  
  
"I guess so, but-  
  
Takato was interrupted by Cody and Tai, who were giving Izzy a significant look. "Izzy", Tai said, "We really need to get going. Why don't you continue this on the other side.  
  
Izzy blushed faintly and switched gears. "If you've been to the digital world before than your digivice should have the transferal program in it. Just stand behind Cody and he will open the portal to the digital world.  
  
Takato nodded and moved over to stand behind Cody. Calumon slipped down to land in his arms and Guilmon stayed close beside him. Tai and Izzy stepped up behind Takato as Cody lifted his digivice and spoke the phrase to open the portal. In a flash of light the small group was sucked into the computer.   
  
Takato found himself floating in a dark void, but almost before he realized that he couldn't see or feel anyone that had been with him a moment ago he was falling through areas filled with bright colors. He thought he felt something happen to his clothing, but before he could figure out what he had been ejected into a tumble of bodies.   
  
The bodies shifted as some of them escaped the pileup and Takato opened his eyes only to see Calumon's bright green eyes staring at him from a few inches away. He yelped and rolled out from the pile. Calming himself down he got back on his feet and assisted Calumon and Guilmon out of the pile. He was just about to look around when he noticed everyone staring at him.  
  
"What is it?" he asked.  
  
Izzy blinked owlishly at Takato. "When you went to the digital world before, did your clothes ever change?  
  
"No. Why do you ask?  
  
Tai's lips were twitching suspiciously. "You might want to take a look at what you're wearing.  
  
"Huh?" Takato looked down at his clothing and realized that he was no longer wearing his normal outfit.  
  
Calumon hopped up onto Guilmon's head in order to get a better view of his human friend. "Wow Takato, I didn't know you could wear knight clothing by yourself.  
  
And knight clothing it was. Takato's pants had been replaced by a pair of light grey leggings. Instead of his sneakers he now wore a pair of leather half boots and his shirt had been replaced by a long sleeved padded red undertunic. Over that he now wore a sleeveless white overtunic with the symbol of the hazard emblazoned in red. Overall, Takato presented the picture of an unarmored knight from the middle ages except for his goggles which remained on his head. It was no wonder that all of the digidestined were struggling to keep straight faces.   
  
Takato must have had a look of confusion on his face, because Kari stepped forward. "Has this never happened to you before?  
  
Takato shook his head. "No. And this place doesn't look at all like the digital world I know." He waved his arm at the pastoral landscape. "This whole area should be a wasteland and I don't see the real world in the sky. There aren't even any data streams or digignomes.  
  
Takato's outburst was greeted with looks of of confusion from the various digidestined, except for Izzy who had a look on his face as if someone had just offered him the holy grail.  
  
"This is amazing." Izzy exclaimed. It's very possible that you visited one of the alternate digital worlds Azulongmon told us about  
  
Takato blinked at Izzy. "You know Azulongmon?"   
  
"Of course. He's dropped by several times to give us information. Though if you know the same sovereign than that rules that theory out.  
  
"Um, actually, when I met him he mentioned that he wasn't from the area  
  
Izzy blinked. "So what was he doing there.  
  
"Stopping Zhuqiaomomn from killing me and my friends.  
  
"But I thought Zhuqiaomon was a sovereign.  
  
Takato sighed. "He is. But that doesn't stop him from really disliking humans. He thought digimon who chose human partners were traitors.  
  
"I remember him," Guilmon said. "He called us some really mean things and threw fire at us. But then that big blue dragon came and stopped him and we found Calumon by climbing down a cliff on his beard.  
  
Tai choked quietly at Guilmon's remark. "Are we talking about the same guy here? Big blue lizard with chains and lightning. I always thought Azulongmon had too much dignity for something like that.  
  
"It was Azulongmon." Takato said quietly. "At the time we didn't have much choice. The D-Reaper was starting it's attack from this huge pit in the ground and we had several friends down there. There was no time to find a way down.  
  
"What was the D-Reaper?" Izzy asked. "That doesn't sound like a digimon."   
  
"Its not." Takato solemnly rested one hand on his partner's back. "The D-Reaper was a computer program that went out of control. It was supposed to keep uncontrolled digivolution from happening, but it decided that everything in the digital world had evolved too far. Sorry, but I really don't like thinking about when we fought it. A lot of things happened and it was a very close battle." Takato determinedly turned his mind from dwelling on the days right after the D-Reaper and searched for a new subject. "Do you think you could tell me why my clothes changed into this?" He gestured towards his medieval garb.  
  
"Of course." Izzy laughed nervously. "I should have told you immediately but I got distracted." His face suddenly took on a more serious cast. "We found out a while ago that how you appear in the digital world depends on your subconscious. When you are downloaded into the digital world it reads your subconscious view of yourself in order to project your appearance. Sometimes it changes your clothing in order to better fit how you view yourself. That's why a couple of us are also wearing unusual outfits.  
  
Takato looked around and saw that he had missed seeing the changed outfits. He supposed that in some twisted way it made sense that his new outfit made him slightly resemble a knight, considering his mega form. Still, he would never had guessed that the idea of the knight was floating around in his subconscious. He was pulled from his self-revery when he heard all of the other digidestined start setting up for the picnic. Belatedly, he turned to follow everyone and ran over to stop Guilmon and Calumon from ransacking the picnic baskets in search of bread. --------------  
  
Takato groaned as he stretched himself out on the grass next to Guilmon. He had never realized before how absolutely exhausting Soccer was. He had never been much into competitive sport, preferring to draw instead, but Guilmon and Calumon had been interested. He was a decently fast runner after all of the time he spent chasing after various digimon, but that was no match for the three soccer fanatics. Takato had started to slow down after the third time he had done a face plant after tripping over one of the digimon. He had stayed in the game, because it was fun to play something other than tag with Guilmon, but now that the game was finished all he wanted was to take a nap. Just as he had nearly fallen asleep he heard some approaching footsteps.  
  
He opened his weary eyes and looked up into Kari's smiling face. She was holding a half asleep Calumon and had a few of the other digidestined standing behind her.  
  
"Hey Takato. We're getting ready to go on a hike. Do you want to come along?"   
  
Takato dragged himself up and reclined against a tree. "Sorry, I'm pretty tired. I'm going to stay here with Guilmon.  
  
"Are you sure?" Kari frowned worriedly at her cousin. "One of us could stay here with you.  
  
"I'm sure."   
  
With a shrug Kari handed the slumbering Calumon over to Takato and headed off with the rest of the digidestined. --------------   
The digidestined walked in communal silence through the forest. Their footsteps crunched through the moss and debris as they walked forwards, each of them sunk in thought on the revelations of the day. At length the topic was finally broached.  
  
"Do you think we can trust him?" Matt asked the group.  
  
"I think we can trust him. Its not like our lives depend on him right now. Besides, we trusted Ken and that turned out all right." Davis burst out. "No Offense, Ken.  
  
"None taken." Ken replied quietly. "Still, it seems odd that we would suddenly find out about this now. Why now? Why didn't we meet him when the digital world was active in the real world. But mostly, I agree with Davis. He hasn't given us any reason to doubt him." He continued with a small smile on his lips. "And if he really is from an alternate digital world imagine what we could learn if we could travel there.  
  
Most of the other digidestined swiftly came over to Davis and Ken's point of a view. In short order they had agreed to treat Takato as one of them for the duration of the stay, although in Davis' opinion both Izzy and Ken were getting much too enthusiastic about the possibility of traveling to the alternate digital world.   
--------------  
Over the next two weeks the three visitors from Shinjuku continued to get to know the Odaiba digidestined. For Takato, Guilmon, and Calumon it was the largest group of nonhostile digimon they had ever met and they took full advantage of the opportunity. Many games took place, both involving soccer and involving large amounts of giggling. Halfway through the week henry called and informed Takato about all the occurrences in Shinjuku. Aside from brief qualms about the safety of Kazu and Kenta's parts in Jeri's distraction plan Takato barely thought about the events at home. Then, one week to the day after Takato had arrived in Odaiba, something began to go very wrong in the digital world. 


End file.
